Anti-narcotic branch of Tripura police confiscated a big consignment of ready-to-be-smuggled consignment of narcotic tablets on Thursday from a banquet hall in Agartala. According to police, more than 20,000 narcotic tablets worth Rs 10 lakh had been seized during the raid.
The team of police led by SP anti-narcotic branch Saraswati R, acting on a tip off, raided the residence of one Uttam Bhattacharjee alias Alok Bhattacharjee at Ramnagar road no 3 in Agartala and during the search operations Police uncovered two sacks which were full of narcotic tablets. Expectedly, these tablets were readied for smuggling. Sources in the police said, the accused Uttam Bhattacharjee was supposed to carry forward the consignment to the next level.
“We have been informed by some of our sources that the sacks had been shipped to his house cum banquet hall. Uttam, who is believed to be a middle man in the nexus, has been left with a direction to forward the consignment to the next level. In all likelihood, the next destination of the banned goods is beyond the borders,” said a highly placed source in the anti-narcotic department.
DSP Tarun Debbarma, who is one of the team members of the operation, said, “We were alerted by our sources about a suspected drug trafficker here in the location. Accordingly, we raided the house and traced the contraband items. As per our estimate, there were 20,000 tablets that were largely used for intoxication. The market value of the tablets amounted to Rs 10 lakh”.
Uttam Bhattacharjee had been arrested and would be produced before the Court shortly. “The drug traffickers of this region act according to the directives they get from their counterpart. In most cases, there is no phone or whatsapp connectivity as these data can easily be retrieved despite deletion. During the investigation, it has been seen that in most of the cases the drug related dealings are done through ‘dead drop’ or else using written notes. However, the anti-narcotic branch is keeping a close watch across the state to nip the nexus in the bud”, said the highly placed source.
